prints warmer than screen

[Tara Louise]

Hi Damian,

I am new here and pretty new to the whole photography scene. I order professional prints from two labs and both prints came back warmer than what I am seeing on my screen. I have trying calibrating probably over 10 times, read your tips and advice and I just can't get my screen to match my prints.

Hopefully you can help me out.

Tara

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Tara, can you give me all the details of what screen and calibrator you have?

[Damien Symonds]

Also, very importantly, please tell me about the light that you're in.  https://www.damiensymonds.net/2012/01/light-around-your-computer.html

[Tara Louise]

Hi Damian,

my calibrator is a colormunki display and my screen is iMac (27 -inch, Late 2013). I am trying to find out exactly what type of screen this is but am having trouble locating this information. For calibration I have been saying that it is a LED screen but I am not 100% sure. 

 

My tests prints look good but they just don't match my screen exactly. For example, my son has orange hair and in the print, his hat is more orange. All caucasian skin comes out more orange on print and any orange in trees or sunsets come out more orange in print.

My computer is beside a large window and I have potlights in the room that appear more on the warm side. I calibrated again in the dark and that didn't make any difference.

 

Tara

[Tara Louise]

More info on type of computer. MacOS Sierra version 10.12.6

 

Tara

[Damien Symonds]

2 hours ago, Tara Louise said:

my calibrator is a colormunki display and my screen is iMac (27 -inch, Late 2013). I am trying to find out exactly what type of screen this is but am having trouble locating this information. For calibration I have been saying that it is a LED screen but I am not 100% sure.

Yes, it should be "White LED", almost certainly.

2 hours ago, Tara Louise said:

My tests prints look good but they just don't match my screen exactly. For example, my son has orange hair and in the print, his hat is more orange. All caucasian skin comes out more orange on print and any orange in trees or sunsets come out more orange in print.

Ok, so the problem is mainly in the reds and oranges range of the colour spectrum?  How are they neutrals, and the blues, greens, browns, etc?

2 hours ago, Tara Louise said:

My computer is beside a large window and I have potlights in the room that appear more on the warm side.

Yes, that's my fear.  If the bulbs are too warm it can certainly contribute to this.

2 hours ago, Tara Louise said:

I calibrated again in the dark and that didn't make any difference.

No, the problem isn't the light in which you're calibrating, the problem is the light falling on your prints when you're viewing them.  If you turn the lights off and just use the window light, is there any difference?

[Tara Louise]

I have trying comparing the prints to the screen with lights on, off, window light, no window light. There is definitely problem with the warmth and my iMac doesn't let me adjust the colours (or at least I don't know how).

Tara

 

[Damien Symonds]

That's correct.  Yet another reason why the "Macs are best for photographers" belief is a big fat fallacy.  Macs are the WORST.

So, do you have another screen in your house that you can plug in to the computer and run as a second screen, and see what happens when you calibrate that?

4 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

Ok, so the problem is mainly in the reds and oranges range of the colour spectrum?  How are they neutrals, and the blues, greens, browns, etc?

If you could elaborate on that, it would be great.

[Damien Symonds]

Tara?